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500mm Repair Update!

Following on from my “500mm F/4 Lens Disaster“, I have finally sent the Lens off for evaluation.

A big thanks to Eunice Lopes who contacted me after a plea on Portuguese Nikon Club’s Facebook page. Eunice suggested that I could take my lens to El Corte Ingles (a department store) in Lisbon for them to send off on my behalf.

This got me thinking, if one major seller can do this, can other Nikon dealers do the same? I contacted FNAC (an electrical store) and asked if they offer the same service. Not only do they offer it, but I could take it to my local store in the Algarve. So, the lens is now in FNAC’s possession and I await a response.

However, about 2 hours after leaving the lens with FNAC, AtlantPhoto finally responded to my service request stating that I can actually take the lens to their offices in Lisbon where it would be shipped to their service centre in Barcelona for evaluation and, hopefully, repair.

Therefore, if I have no joy with FNAC, at least I can take it direct to AltantPhoto.

More when I know!

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500mm F/4 Lens Disaster!

It was enough to almost make me want to cry!

Sitting in the Lounge, I heard a quiet bang from the bedroom, on investigation it seems that one of our (many) Cats managed to open a door to the built-in Wardrobes.

Broken 500mm F/4 Collar
All of my camera equipment is stored in this particular wardrobe and normally right up high on a shelf. However, as there has been some activity around the house (flyby of Short Toed Eagles for instance) I kept both my 500mm f/4 and 300mm f/2.8 standing up ready to grab.

Yes, you guessed it, one of the Cats (who still remains unidentified) knocked the 500mm f/4 over.

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Cheap As Chips Remote

MC-30? (Tiny lens? Yes, it was a quick shot and the camera hasn't a lens fitted)
MC-30? (Tiny lens? Yes, it was a quick shot and the camera hasn’t a lens fitted)

For a while I’ve been meaning to get a cable remote for my D810, something simple that I just connect to the 10-pin socket on the front and just has a shutter button. I already have a Hahnel Giga T Pro II Wireless Remote that can also be used as a wired remote but not only does it need a battery but also switches off after 1 minute of not being used, hence the need for something simple.

Just a cable and a button.

Nikon offer the MC-30A which is exactly that, a 10-pin socket, 80cm of cable and a button. Perfect you might think? Well, not at almost £70 it isn’t.

There was no way I was going to pay £70 for something I could probably make myself for a few quid.

Then I stumbled on Ebay and come across something called the “Shoot Remote Switch MC-30”, yep, the Chinese didn’t even come up with their own model number. Guess what, although it actual unit is a different design, it’s essentially a 10-pin socket, 80cm of cable and a button. It even has a trigger lock just like the original.

Half the price you might think? Try less than £3!!!! Yes, £2.97 with free postage. It was in the UK too and took 2 days to be delivered.

I’ve only had a quick test and it’s actually nice, the button is two stage (half press focus) and has quite nice feedback with a firm spring.

Could it let you down? Who knows, only time will tell and I’m not expecting it to still be working after 30 years (or even 30 months). I’ll only be using it when I need to have the camera very steady on a tripod, night sky shots for instance, so if it mis-fires, it’s not the end of the world. To be honest, at the price, I could always carry 20 spares and it would still cost less than the Nikon trigger.

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